Mails close ab tlio Chief : Post Office, Christchurcii,. for the following places (subject to necessary alterations) as under:— Thursday, Dec. 16. For Akaroa, per Wanaka, at 7.30 a. m. ; guard’s, van must not be used for this mail. For Northern ports, per Ringarooraa, at 1.50 p.m. ; late fee letters, 2.10 p.m. ; guard’s van, 2.40 p.m. train. Friday, December 31. For the United Kingdom, via San Francisco, &c., as under Money orders and registered letters, at 5' p.m.; books and newspapers, at 9 p.m.; ordinary letters, at 10 p.m. A supplementary .mail will be closed at 7 p.m. on Saturday, January, 1, 1881. Late fee letters may be posted in the guard’s van attached to the 8.30 p.m. train on Saturday, January 1.

Mails close at the Ashburton Post Office, as follows :

For Christchurch and North at 5.30 a. m. 10 a.in., and 5 p.m., daily. For Ohert'sey Rakaia, &c., at 10 a, m. and 5' p. m. daily. For Dunedin, Tiiiwald, Winslow, Hinds, ■Oaldstream, Rangitata, Orari, Winchester, and Geraldine, at 10 a.m. daily. For Temuka, at G a.m. and 10 a.m., daily. For Timaru and South, at 6 a.m., 10 a. m. , and 4.20 p. m., daily. For Greenstreet, Ashburton Forks, Mount Somers, and Ashburton Gorge, on Tuesdays and Fridays, at 10.30 a m. For Ashton, Waterton and Longbeach, at 4.30 p.m. daily. For Wakanui, Elgin, and Seafield, on Tuesdays and Fridays, at 6 a.ni.